Ah, yes. The ancient story of the “unread email.” It’s an unfortunate reality that every marketer has come to expect.
Even with tracking clicks and opens, it’s sometimes hard to gauge if a message within outreach efforts are resonating with audiences. But half of the battle for marketers is getting someone to just read an email.
One man said out of the 337 unread emails in his inbox, 330 of them were probably marketing emails. Another consumer said “a good thousand” of the emails in his inbox were brand outreach efforts. And one woman guessed that most of her 30,000 unread messages were from brands.
A few consumers admitted the only emails that grabbed their attention were the ones advertising things they were already seeking out. Others spoke fondly of catchy subject lines that signaled flash sales, special offers, discount codes and deals generally. While some consumers said they were really looking for products that seemed new, innovative and interesting.
And these sentiments were reflected in our latest consumer survey. The majority of consumers said they weren’t overwhelmed by the number of emails they were receiving, signaling to us they got used to the large number being sent.
While some revealed they just deleted emails advertising things that didn’t interest them, others said they let them sit there.
“I don’t have time to look at all of this,” one consumer said as she held up the emails that went unread on her cell phone.
